Giorgio Ardisson: The Italian James Bond

I’m very pleased to announce the publication – at last! – of the second WildEye book. Giorgio Ardisson: The Italian James Bond is an in-depth look at the career of Italian actor Giorgio Ardisson. Here’s the blurb:

—-

Giorgio Ardisson might not be the best known actor in the world; outside Italy his name was almost totally unknown and even in his own country his brush with fame was short-lived. But his career, which lasted from the end of the 1950s to the early 1990s, was fascinating. Not just because of the sheer variety of films and filmmakers that he was involved with, but because in many ways his story is also the story of Italian film itself.

He started out in the glory years of cinema in Rome, when it was the glamorous centre of a thriving and much respected industry, working in a variety of popular genres including peplums, swashbucklers and comedies. While the films of Sergio Leone were propelling Italian popular cinema onto a world stage, Ardisson carved out his own niche with a series of exceedingly profitable spy films which sold across the world. For a few years he was much in demand with producers looking for a lead actor with an American look. But then, with the arrival of the 1970s, things changed. Budgets dried up, genre lifespans reduced drastically and distribution networks collapsed. There was less call for good looking leading men as a grittier, more downbeat trend took hold of Italian cinema. So Ardisson re-crafted himself as a supporting actor in an increasingly peculiar selection of weird and wonderful films. Many of these were seen by almost nobody, many are still impossible to find and many of them are entirely rubbish.

This book is the first detailed look at the curious career of Giorgio Ardisson, including reviews of his most important films, interview material – much of which is published in English for the first time – and contemporary reviews. It’s lavishly illustrated throughout, including eight pages in full colour.

Please, please, please… if you are interested, don’t buy through Amazon, they charge a 60% commission on the cover price which basically means that any copies I sell through them I sell at a loss (plus the fact that they’re a horrible corporate monster, of course). The shop on my site uses Paypal so it’s fully secure and I’m pretty reliable when it comes to posting books out!

The WildEye is a blog dedicated to the wild world of Italian cinema (and, ok, sometimes I digress into discussing films from other countries as well). Peplums, comedies, dramas, spaghetti westerns... they're all covered here.

I’m working on a book about the roots of Italian crime films – i.e. crime films or films that have a poliziesco element – from 1945 to 1969, from neo-realism to the noir films in the late 60s. Interesting stuff.

Great! I’ll be ordering soon!! I have your EUROSPY book and it’s valuable asset!!I’ve worked on a few films, one of the first was actually OCTOPUSSY, where I helped (uncredited) John Glen with the pretitle—since then I was a Pinewood a few times–what a hoot that was!!

Hi Matt,
through the blog EUROPEAN TRASH CINEMA I noticed your new book on GIORGIO ARDISSON and others. What is the best way for me to order your books – would like to have it sent to my Austrian address?
Thanks and all the best,
Ulrich

Hi, sorry, I’ve been so caught up with other stuff I didn’t know it wasn’t working any more… Not sure if I’m going to be able to resurrect it but might be able to start it up afresh if people are interested?